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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994390">Curtain Up</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbreonix/pseuds/Umbreonix'>Umbreonix</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Flirting, Fluff, He's also hopelessly in love with his boss, Husk feels bold when he's on stage, M/M, Magic, Showman Husk, Will this sudden burst of confidence lead to something?, magicshow, of course it will, this would be a crummy story if it didn't</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:00:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,195</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbreonix/pseuds/Umbreonix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Alastor's birthday at the Hazbin Hotel and Charlie will never not take advantage of an excuse to have a celebration.</p><p>Husk gets roped into performing a magic show very much against his own will.</p><p>It turns out Alastor isn't the only one with a stage persona, and Husk's isn't afraid to make certain feelings apparent.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alastor/Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust &amp; Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Husk &amp; Charlie Magne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>159</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Husk was dead to the world when the knocking first started, nothing more than a mess of furry and feathered limbs tangled in crinkled sheets.</p><p>He was slow to open his heavy eyes and even after he found his bearings, he had little motivation to respond to whatever nonsense was waiting for him outside. </p><p>There was always a certain kind of moroseness that tinted his mornings and it made putting his paws on the ground just a little bit harder each successive day. He had a very specific ritual which he needed to rigidly follow in order to muster up the required amount of willpower to move from his messy nest and it wouldn’t do to be interrupted before it was complete. (Said ritual basically involved sitting up and staring ahead at nothing blankly until some bodily function be it his bladder or stomach started screaming at him)</p><p>He stayed deathly silent and hoped whoever was on the other side of the door would find him later at the bar. Or hell, drop it altogether if it wasn’t important.</p><p>The knocking stopped after what felt like an eternity of waiting (but was probably only a few seconds) </p><p>Maybe they had left?</p><p>So not important then.</p><p>Good.</p><p>Today was already shaping up.</p><p>He sat up tiredly.</p><p>The hotel room was darkened, the curtains had been drawn tightly shut since the day he moved in but his night vision was good enough that he could see through the shade and caught sight of himself in the mirror of the gaudy vanity across the room.</p><p>His fur was all cowlicks, standing up at every angle.</p><p>It had been a rough night again last night.</p><p>The knocking started back up and he cursed. It could never be that easy could it? Not for him. Not ever.</p><p>He attempted to get out of the bed but, in his bleary state, he tripped on the undersheet that had wrapped itself around his ankle sometime during his fitful sleep and he went tumbling.</p><p>He poured to the ground with the all bendiness of a feline but all the horrible cracking sounds one would expect from an atrophied old man. Sheets and blankets waterfalled down with him.</p><p>The collection of bottles that had begun to accumulate at the side of the bed were knocked down and the cacophony of them all tumbling over and rolling away in all directions along the hardwood floors did nothing for his hangover. He clutched at his ears to block out all of the noise.</p><p>“Husk was that you in there?” A voice beyond the door asked. </p><p>Shit. </p><p>Charlie.</p><p>Nice girl. Sweet as a sugar high. The last person in Hell that he felt up to dealing with right now.</p><p>He ruefully slunk over to the door of his hotel room and took a deep breath before leaning his head against the sturdy wood.</p><p>“What?” He grumbled lowly.</p><p>“Husk?” She asked again.</p><p>He fought down the bubbling annoyance for a moment. It would be so easy to spit back something like <em> ‘who the fuck else?’ </em> but he held himself back. He knew it all was misdirected after all. He was just tired. It had nothing to do with her. Snapping would be cathartic for a moment and then he’d only feel worse. So no, he wouldn’t raise his voice. He wasn’t an asshole like that. Well, he <em> was </em> an asshole but he lived by the solemn oath to at least <em> try </em> and save his assholishness for other assholes only.</p><p>He’d find one soon enough to release some steam on if he still needed to after. This was hell afterall. Throw a dart, find an asshole.</p><p>“Yeah?” he mumbled, resigned.</p><p>She sounded awkward now. “Um… could you maybe open the door?”</p><p>He sighed and slowly did as she asked. Charlie stood in stark contrast to himself; bright eyed and bushy tailed. With her many millennia of diplomatic training, her eyes only dropped for a moment to his dishevelled form before she ignored it all in favour of a wide grin. “Oh good, you’re here! We’ve been looking for you!”</p><p>“Okay…” Husk said. “For what?”</p><p>She was buzzing with excitement. “Well, you’re just going to have to come see! Oh my gosh you’re going to be so surprised.” Giddyness caused her to almost appear to retract into herself as her shoulders rose up to her ears and her mouth became half hidden by quivering fists. Worst of all were those sparkling eyes.</p><p>It was the same expression she had when she had told him that he’d <em> ‘love it here’ </em> upon their first meeting.</p><p>He could always tell how much he’d hate something on a scale directly correlated to how excited Charlie seemed by it. This was going to, as Angel would put it, ‘suck balls’.</p><p>She calmed a little but was still bouncing a bit on the spot as she sent him an impatient smile. “Here, I’ll wait right here and give you a sec to get…” her eyes fell down to his fur again. “…decent?”</p><p>He looked at her and a whole new wave of fatigue ran over him. He wasn’t getting out of this, was he? “Fine,” he said after a long, resigned sigh and he slammed the door in her face.</p><p>He didn’t have time to do a real brushing, so he simply carded his long sharp claws through his fur and they basically had the same effect as the teeth of a comb anyway.</p><p>As for the actual ‘getting decent’ part. He popped two buttons onto his chest fluff, tied his bow tie as even and neatly as he could bother to care and plopped his signature hat on his head, calling it a day.</p><p>There. He was <em> ‘clothed’ </em>. At least that part was a lot easier since becoming a demon.</p><p>Charlie was waiting outside his door in the exact same position he had left her, the only difference was her smile was even wider.</p><p>She let out an inhumanely sweet and high-pitched squeal of excitement through her grinning teeth and swiftly gripped his arm.</p><p>He didn’t like this. The energy in this hall was already at an eleven and he wasn’t <em> there </em> yet. Not today.</p><p>When he half-heartedly tried to pull his arm away he was struck with just how strong Charlie was. It was so easy to forget most days that she was the princess of Hell.</p><p>The firmness and lack of give reminded him of when you check your bars on a roller coaster immediately after being strapped in.</p><p>As if the thought had been a premonition, a moment later he was being whisked away at break-neck speeds down to the main lobby.</p><p>Something was very clearly different.</p><p>Namely, there was a massive structure in the middle of the room.</p><p>It was hard to figure out what it was at first. Wooden at the base… covered in curtains on the three sides he could see from their perspective. The whole thing was probably rectangular from a bird’s eye view… Four shoddily crafted wood steps lead up to the curtained part from above the platform…</p><p>A stage.</p><p>It was a stage. He had spent enough years as a performer to know what ‘backstage’ looked like. It was rarely as glamorous as people imagined but this was especially dingy.</p><p>“Uh, Charlie,” he asked. “What exactly am I looking at here? </p><p>“Isn’t it amazing?” She asked.</p><p>“Not what I asked,” he said. “Why is there a stage in the middle of my lobby?”</p><p>“We’re putting on a show!” Charlie announced excitedly. “Or actually, to be more accurate, we already all put on our shows and now it’s your turn!”</p><p>She began to push him toward the steps and he resisted. “Wait? What? No! Kid, it’s too goddamn early in the morning for this!”</p><p>That actually caused her to pause. “Early? Husk, it’s past dinner.”</p><p>Shit really? Husk glanced out the one set of windows that wasn't stained glass. The sky WAS a darkening purple. “Well fuck me,” he mumbled.</p><p>With that excuse no longer valid, he let Charlie push him the rest of the way to the stairs, but with the stiff unwilling rigidness only house cats being taken to baths are usually capable of.</p><p>The steps buckled under their weight as they walked up. Plywood… the whole thing was a death trap. This was not a weight-bearing piece of construction.</p><p>The more he looked the more perilous the stage looked. Nails were sticking out all over and the pillars and rails holding up the curtains seemed to be tilting to the left. Nothing was level.</p><p>“Can you believe Razzle and Dazzle made this all in a day?” Charlie whispered into his ear.</p><p>“Yea-“</p><p>Husk was interrupted by a gentle shove and he stumbled onto the stage.</p><p>Charlie followed out a second after.</p><p>“Everyone! I found him!” She waved.</p><p>The Hazbin staff and a few select patrons were sitting in mismatched chairs dragged out from every part of the hotel. Most of the demons were looking various levels of unimpressed or bored. Alastor was the most noticeable among the collection, sitting front and center in a throne with a wide grin. Not that he didn’t always have a grin, but Husk had known him for decades and knew that this was his truly ‘entertained’ grin.</p><p>(Also on the point of Alastor being the most noticeable, truthfully it didn’t matter where he was sitting or what he was sitting on, Husk’s attention was always able to find and zone in on him immediately)</p><p>Husk walked up to the microphone and leaned in. “Anyone mind telling me what the FUCK is going on.”</p><p>Charlie quickly scurried over.</p><p>“Well,” she said, twiddling her thumbs and rocking on her heels. “We found out that it was Alastor’s birthday and, um, I thought: what would he like more than some <em> ‘good ol’ fashioned entertainment’ </em> for a birthday gift!” She said that middle bit with the worst Alastor impression he had ever heard, awkwardly swaying her arms in the exaggerated movements of a cartoon character in an early mickey-mouse movie.</p><p>She paused as if just realizing something for the first time. “Uh… I suppose you don’t have anything prepared. Sorry. We all prepped our things throughout the day…”</p><p>The look Husk sent her was of full exasperation.</p><p>This was a trainwreck.</p><p>At the very least, disasters and failed ambitions just so happened to be Alastor’s favourite things to watch.</p><p>His grin was only growing as the pair sweat uncomfortably on stage.</p><p>“Maybe you could just say a few things you like about Alastor?” She suggested. “That would be sweet actually...”</p><p>Husk scrunched his face as if that was the worst possible thing he could ever have to do. Honestly, it probably was. There were so many things he had resolved to never say out loud, but now the suggestion was out there and he could feel those red glowing eyes boring a hole into his side.</p><p>He couldn't get away with just not saying anything anymore.</p><p>Charlie nudged him closer to the standing mic. “Go on, just be honest! Surely there are <em> some </em>things you must like about him,” her awkwardness was returning the more she began to second-guess this idea. “Right?” She asked, eyes darting away.</p><p>Honest.</p><p>Absolutely not.</p><p>He could <em> never </em>be honest.</p><p>Not with all the pathetic feelings he harboured.</p><p>“Al,” Husk grumbled and scratched the back of his neck. “You are…”</p><p>He made the mistake of accidentally looking up and making eye contact with him for the slightest fraction of a second before he zoned back down to his polished shoes, a much safer part of the man to look at… but the damage was already done.</p><p>
  <em> Beautiful. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Effervescent. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Dapper as hell. </em>
</p><p>“..uh…” Husk faltered.</p><p>Yes, this was a terrible idea. “Not… the worst boss I’ve ever had.”</p><p>He looked at Charlie as if to ask <em> ‘Good enough?’ </em></p><p>She smiled awkwardly and twirled her hand in the universal message of <em> ‘Go on.’ </em></p><p>“You…” Husk said. This time he looked up to Alastor’s torso and focused on the details of his pressed suit. Then his gaze wandered to Alastor’s left hand. His long elegant gloved fingers were curling along the arm of the chair in a patient rhythm.</p><p>How was every little thing he did so sensual when the very suggestion of anything ‘sexy’ would send him out of a room faster than Angel when he thought he could skip out on a bar tab?</p><p>It felt like everyone else in the audience was fading away.</p><p>It was just them.</p><p>
  <em> You… make my afterlife better </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You… have become someone important to me that I can’t imagine living without </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You… are so special in every way and I’m just… </em>
</p><p>He looked Alaster’s fresh face over with his own permanently worn and haggard eyes. Alastor was eternally young and eternally handsome. He was powerful beyond most beings in Hell and either feared or coveted by all without exception. </p><p>Husk, over their many years of acquaintanceship, had unfortunately fallen into the ‘coveting’ category. Hard.</p><p>But unlike Alastor,  he was eternally old. Eternally miserable. Eternally frozen in the state of chronic depression he had been in when he had died.  </p><p>He was destined to forever be everything Alastor looked down upon.</p><p>“You…” Husk repeated, wishing he would think of something to say before he said the first bit each time and deadlocked himself into having to complete what he started.</p><p>He had looked down to grip at his own arm nervously, unaware of how bare his inner turmoil was laid out in his expression for all to see.</p><p>He almost looked back into Alastor’s eyes, but he fixated on his smile instead, unable to meet him the full way. He had no idea the way his own ears drooped.</p><p>Now Alastor looked… concerned?</p><p>He thought that was Alastor’s concerned smile. That one was harder to identify as very few things could ever truly concern him given his power and overall detachment to the everyday troubles most demons faced.</p><p>Husk squinted a little as he finally forced out. “You are-”</p><p>Nope.</p><p>He couldn’t. </p><p>“Fuck this,” he finally cursed and then turned to Charlie. “You said this is a show right? It’s okay if I just perform something?”</p><p>“Do you have anything to perform?” Charlie asked.</p><p>He sighed again and glanced around the lobby. “Someone… grab me.. uh,” he pointed at the bar. “Um, there’s a pack of playing cards under the counter.”</p><p>Niffty, who was sitting on said counter to see over everyone else’s heads, scrambled back to get them.</p><p>Hmm.. what else?</p><p>“Uh, maybe one of those empty water jugs there…” he pointed out a few other objects laying around the room and ordered various volunteers to bring them over. There was plenty of old crap everywhere, tonnes of stuff he could use.</p><p>Once he had everything he needed, he took a deep breath. Then, for the first time anyone in the hotel was around to witness it, he straightened his back to stand up to his full height.</p><p>See, if he was going to do this, he was going to go full out.</p><p>Gangly and grumpy as he often was, you don’t make it through the Vegas show circuit for as long as he had without having some sort of stage presence and charisma. It had been some time since he flipped the switch and put his persona back on, but he slid back into it quite naturally.</p><p>A charming and slightly mischievous smile crossed his face and he suddenly looked decades younger, with a confidence he only ever managed to get while standing in the spotlight.</p><p>Now, he could look Alastor directly in the eye.</p><p>And he did.</p><p>His boss seemed to stiffen with surprise.</p><p>“Ladies and Gentlemen….” He started with a silky tongue.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been many years since he’d performed but he eased back into his habits effortlessly as if he had been doing this every day of his afterlife.</p><p>For the first time in Hell, Husk was in his element.</p><p>His claws were no less nimble than his fingers had been in life. In fact, his body felt made for this sort of thing.</p><p>While magic had fallen to the wayside, Husk never stopped leveraging his talent of misdirection. </p><p>He knew exactly how to flick his bright red tail or flair his heavily decorated wings to force a person’s eye anywhere he wanted it to be.</p><p>He’d been perfecting this technique for decades both in the casinos and on the battlefields Alastor so commonly used to frequent until he became bored of it all.</p><p>Now however, this skill was letting him return to his roots.</p><p>He started off with a few simple tricks and with each success, his confidence grew.</p><p>Soon he became bored sticking to the book of pre-written tricks and his inner innovator emerged. This is where his true talent made itself known. He made use of everything at his disposal, the curtains, the imperfections on the stage. He could make objects appear to move telekinetically just with the uneven slopes of the stage boards and later disappear through the accidental gaps in the wood, all the while interspersing witty and charming comments that even had Vaggie stifling a laugh in the audience.</p><p>When he accidentally met Angel’s eye and received a lascivious wink meant to trip him up, he merely winked back with double the charm and the spider backed up a little with shock.</p><p>He called Niffty up and he managed to ‘push her into’ the water jug though the inch-wide bottle neck. It was of course, just another slight of hand, his razor sharp claw had cut a slit along the entire back just as he covered her with his wing and then he pushed her through.</p><p>Angel was getting really into the show. “How the fuck??” He asked, slamming his hands onto the table. He squinted and concentrated harder on Husk, determined to figure out his next trick.</p><p>Little brat...</p><p>Well, if he was so eager, might as well show him one up close.</p><p>He hopped off the stage with only his deck of cards and began to masterfully shuffle them as he walked through the crowd.</p><p>“Angel,” Husk said. “You’re someone who thinks his body has all the answers.”</p><p>“That’s what all the John’s tell me babe,” Angel said, swiping his finger through his fluffy pink hair.</p><p>“Care to put it to the test?” Husk challenged with a playful smirk.</p><p>“Oh Husky,” Angel murmured, with a seductive simper. “I <em> like </em> you like this. Consider my bod’ at your disposal, free of charge.”</p><p>Husk chuckled to himself and put a few more flourishes into his shuffles before he showed the deck to Angel “Pick a card then kid.”</p><p>Angel followed his instructions and his flirtatiousness once again gave way to serious concentration. Yeah, he was clearly determined to figure out the trick. It really was a shame he had already fallen into Husk’s trap earlier. Husk already knew his card and the rest of the trick was just for show so he wasn't going to figure out anything if he hadn't already.</p><p>Husk sprawled the cards out on the table in front of the spider and took one of his hands.</p><p>He pinched the thin fabric of the glove between two claws delicately and looked the man across from him directly in the eyes. “May I?” He asked with the deep baritone of a perfect gentleman.</p><p>Angel nodded mutely. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he was unable to come up with a trademark sassy response.</p><p>“HA,” they heard Vaggie slapping her knee in the distance. The rarity of Angel being at a loss for words was not lost on her and she was clearly enjoying the moment immensely.</p><p>Husk gently removed Angel’s glove, slowly from the single finger with an elegant fluidity. Angel’s exposed hand curled almost shyly.  </p><p>“You alright there?” He asked, voice gentle but internally, very smug.</p><p>“Of course,” Angel retorted, a bit of his fire returning after his sudden bashfulness was called out.</p><p>“I’m going to be feeling your pulse, just like this okay?” He asked, grazing his pointer claw across Angel’s thin wrist.</p><p>Angel nodded robotically.</p><p>If he hadn’t been so flustered, Husk was certain he’d have cynically asked how the cat could feel something like a pulse through he’s creepy finger claws and the answer was: He couldn’t.</p><p>But he pretended nonetheless, hovering Angel’s hand above the cards. This was honestly entirely for his own vanity and payback for all the nights Angel sat at his bar and persistently tried to charm his way into free drinks and ‘’favours”. It was fun having the shoe on the other foot for once and watching the spider squirm.</p><p>Something was off though. He could sense he was losing Alastor during this trick. He supposed the guy always was repulsed by these sorts of things but Husk had thought that he’d been keeping the flirty teasing incredibly classy. </p><p>Still, no one in Hell could read Alastor’s mood like Husk could and he could tell it was dampening quickly. </p><p>The senses of a cat were very different from the senses of a human, even when Alastor wasn’t talking there was the slightest bit of static all around, a background frequency of dead air. Whenever Alastor grew displeased, Husk knew. </p><p>Well, he always was a narcissist. He was probably just feeling sore about being left out for so long so Husk figured he’d throw the cannibal a demon bone by addressing him as he ‘explained’ the trick’s story.</p><p>“This trick is bringing us back to 1921! I figured Al would like it with what a hark-backer he is. You might remember, boss, back when the first polygraph was made and we learned that the heart can’t keep a secret no matter how hard it tries.”</p><p>he looked at Angel pointedly when he said this next part: “You’re never more naked than when someone’s got a finger on your pulse. I wonder when the last time you actually felt bare was?” </p><p>The pornstar gulped despite having been given the golden opportunity to regain his dignity with any number of obvious quips.</p><p>Husk knew he wouldn’t have been able to talk back though.</p><p>He had noticed back in Vegas that it was always the people in the audience who you’d least expect who got the most jittery at the concept of true exposure. There were lots of ‘Angels’ there. He knew <em> exactly </em> how the guy ticked.</p><p>He hovered Angel’s hand over the cards, pretending he was using it like some sort of metal detector.</p><p>As he eliminated cards, he pretended to flirt with Angel with lines like “So come here often?” Which warranted quite a few chuckles around the room as people started to catch on to what he was doing.</p><p>The suggestion that he was reading his pulse had Angel biting his lip in stubborn self-restraint but it was obvious by the way his chest fluff was rising that he was getting warmer under the collar.</p><p>Finally Husk ‘found’ Angel’s card and his shyness was replaced with disbelief. “What? How in the hell? I was watchin’ closely! How did you do that?!”</p><p>“Told ya,” Husk said, “I was watching your pulse. Learned a <em> lot </em> for that matter. Surprisingly bashful little thing aren't ya?”</p><p>Angel’s gaze snapped to Husk. Finally he laughed a little as he melted into his seat in defeat. “Geez Kitten. you tryin’ to get my panties to drop? Cause it’s workin’.”</p><p>“This ain’t an after hours show, Doll,” Husk replied “and anyway,” he made eye contact with Vaggie who was the second most tormented victim of Angel Dust on most days, “I like a certain level of challenge to my tricks. Gotta keep them impressive.”</p><p>Vaggie snorted into her hands and there were even more voices added into the chorus of laughs.</p><p>Alastor was still notably silent.</p><p>Fair, he supposed he’d been neglecting the guest of honour long enough.</p><p>He turned to the Radio Demon whose amusement had clearly dimmed a few shades in his smile.</p><p>“Alright Al, I know you don’t like being overlooked. Got to always be the center of attention now don’t you?” The words would have been biting if they didn’t sound so affectionate.</p><p>He walked over to the seated demon and leaned forward, both hands braced on either armrest.  His muzzle was inches from the radio demon’s ear when he murmured “Now look who's being the grumpy one,” in a rumbling quiet tone meant for only the two of them to hear.</p><p>He was pulling out all sorts of reactions from Alastor tonight. The boss looked properly shocked, body stiff like a deer in the woods hearing a twig snap. </p><p>“What?” Husk was still leaning over the sitting man, but he’d backed up enough to properly look him in the eye. He quirked a feathery brow. “Thought after all these years I couldn’t read that handsome face?” He asked, because when he was in showman-mode he had no inhibitions, even when he probably should.</p><p>But Alastor was on-air right now as well. There were too many people in the room. Alastor was the exact opposite of Husk, he was always putting on a show, except for on the rarest of occasions. </p><p>It had been thirty long years together and Husk had only witnessed it a few times… where the static in his voice dimmed to an almost non-existent crackle and his tone lowered until he sounded less like he was talking to an audience and more just to him. As a person. Directly. Intimately. </p><p>But certainly this was not one of those moments so Alastor laughed and anyone else would not understand how much Husk had just managed to affect him (except maybe Niffty who was on the edge of her seat memorizing every single detail of this exchange for later).</p><p>“Husker you really are saying the zanniest things tonight! It’s absolutely charming!” He announced.</p><p>“Want to be my next volunteer?” Husk asked.</p><p>“I’d be happy to oblige, old friend!”</p><p>Husk held the deck in front of Alastor. “Well then, pick a card dear hart.” Two deer puns in one breath, now he was just being pretentious. He didn’t care.</p><p>“Now place it down to your thigh,” Husk ordered softly, still leaning towards Alastor casually as if he thought he somehow belonged in the most dangerous demon in hell’s heavily enforced personal bubble of space.</p><p>Alastor looked at him in confusion and Husk grinned. He took his hand gently and guided it down himself. “Face down now, sweetheart.”</p><p>Alastor wasn’t looking down at all to where the card was, eyes fixed on Husk instead. Good. He thought he was going to need to come up with a distraction but this was going shockingly easy. Alastor was even more off of his game than Angel had been.</p><p>Husk backed up triumphantly. “What does your card say?”</p><p>“Arn’t <em> you </em> supposed to be the magician?” Someone in the audience heckled. “You tell us!” It was one of the new guys. Husk never bothered to learn his name. He knew how to read people and he certainly knew this guy wasn’t going to make it long at the ‘Happy Hotel’.</p><p>Alastor looked confused but he answered. “Five of clubs.”</p><p>“Does it though?” Husk asked.</p><p>Alastor quickly flipped the card back over to find it wasn’t even a playing card at all anymore, but rather, a note.</p><p>“I owe you one drink,” Alastor read, adjusting his monocle.</p><p>“Anytime, anywhere,” Husk agreed. </p><p>The look Alastor sent him then was even rarer than his looks of concern or surprise: He was impressed. It wasn’t just anyone who could swap out an item in an overlord’s palm without them noticing. Especially not Alastor’s.</p><p>Husk burst out laughing. </p><p>“Al if you’re going to make faces like that every time I’m going to have to do this more often.”</p><p>Feeling more bold than ever, he caught Alastor’s chin with a smirk.</p><p>The red man’s breath hitched almost imperceptibly. </p><p>This wasn’t part of his gentleman stage persona but this also wasn’t something Husk could ever dream to do either, this was an intermediate between his two personalities. </p><p>In a moment of bare honesty and affection Husk brought their foreheads together and purred. “Happy birthday Boss.”</p><p>He didn’t overstay his welcome or wait for Alastor to shove him off.</p><p>No, he pulled away quickly and twirled around 180 degrees on his hind paws to address the audience. He didn’t look at Alastor because… well… he didn’t want to. He wanted to ride this high as long as possible and the look of disgust he was predicting would have squashed it right quick.</p><p>“Well, hopefully that was enough, sorry I couldn’t have something prepared but, well, I overslept.”</p><p>He got a surprising number of claps for an audience in hell. </p><p>Charlie of course, was beside herself.</p><p>She pounced on him after the show and showered him with words of praise. She was… a good kid. Once again he found himself glad he hadn’t snapped at her earlier.</p><p>Angel slunk up to him afterwards. “Nice show, Hot Stuff, didn’t know you had it in ya.”</p><p>He dropped something in Husk’s paw and the cat demon looked down. It was his room key. Of course. “I can pull a few tricks myself, come by later and maybe I’ll show ya,” Angel said.</p><p>“Thanks kid, but I’ll have to pass.”</p><p>“Just hold on to it in case,” Angel urged. “Might change your mind.”</p><p>Husk shrugged, having already returned the item without the spider’s knowing. “Check your pocket.”</p><p>He made his escape while Angel did just that.</p><p>“Motherfucker!” He heard from behind him. “Seriously! How?”</p><p>Alastor was the last person he ran into, “Husker, good friend! That was quite the performance! Thirty years and you are still so full of surprises!” He pulled Husk into a tight side-hug and, where Husk would usually recoil with faked disgust, he simply leaned into it.</p><p>Alastor took notice but he didn’t comment.</p><p>“I never quite realized how tall you were either,” he commented glancing up to the top of Husk’s head rather than down as he usually would.</p><p>Husk had a bad tendency to make himself as small as he felt.</p><p>He’d blame his bad back but honestly, it was probably reversed where years of slouching did his spine in.</p><p>“I must ask though,” Alastor said suddenly, voice growing thoughtful. “For what reason was Angel Dust handing you a key? I caught the exchange from the corner of my eye earlier and found myself quite curious.”</p><p>“Come on Al,” Husk said in disbelief. “I know you’re not into that stuff but you <em> HAVE </em> to know.”</p><p>“I can’t say I do, please enlighten me if it makes me look foolish.”</p><p>“Al,” Husk said tiredly, wiping his face. “You always ask me about stuff and then have the audacity to get mad when I’m being ‘crass’ as you’d put it. You’ve got an awful habit of shooting the messenger you know.”</p><p>“Well, I tell you you’re being crass when you are being crass,” Alastor said indignantly.</p><p>This man was such an insufferable idiot sometimes. Why was he in love with him again?</p><p>Husk sighed. “Sometimes… when a person fancies another, they give that person their hotel room key to have some ‘private time’ later.”</p><p>“Well that doesn’t sound crass at all!” Alastor said in surprise. “Rather, it’s quite a useful method of communication I hadn’t known about! Quite discrete!”</p><p>It took Husk a moment to catch up to Alastor’s train of thought. “You’re thinking about murder aren't you?”</p><p>Alastor just laughed, neither confirming nor denying that accusation.</p><p>Thank God he hadn't known about the key thing in life. Husk would have felt even worse for all of his victims who would have faced the <em>extra</em> indignity of having been accidentally honey-potted by their serial killer. At least, he was assuming Alastor had been a murderer. He really didn't talk about his above-world crimes... which was strange.</p><p>“Still,” the radio demon added, “I wouldn’t fancy alone time with Angel in his boudoir. I would be careful of his intentions if I were you.”</p><p>Yeah Husk KNEW he didn’t get it. This is what he got for always having to give PG answers to Alastor for R-rated concepts.</p><p>“Yeah I won’t be going,” Husk said.</p><p>“Good,” Alastor said, pleased. “Always stay vigilant against people like that Husker.”</p><p>He pat Husk’s back and sauntered off into the party to receive other birthday well-wishes.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>"Dear Hart" Is a Knightfire-ism. I love it. So witty.</p><p>Angel isn't actually, like, in love with Husk in this fic. He just wants a taste of that cat D.</p><p>Love triangles make my heart hurt, XD As I see it he likes Husk but he doesn't know how to express friendship or platonic admiration in any way other than flirting. (because well... it's not like he ever got any examples from his own fam) :(</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He was alone now as he walked down the long hotel hallway.</p><p>With each step, he slowly shrunk into himself until he was back to his usual hunched posture. The bounce in his step was already gone.</p><p>This was always the problem with the stage he found. While he was up there, it was exhilarating. He could depart from being his dreary miserable self for a short while and reinvent himself into someone worth looking at. He’d believe it too for as long as he could see this version of himself mirrored in the eyes of his audience. Once he was alone though, he always came back down. Hard.</p><p>After all, It’s not like he could fool himself with his own illusions, so there wasn’t much point.</p><p>Why was he still so disgustingly human like that? Other demons were able run around in their crazy delusions all day and night with reckless abandon, seemingly having been reborn by hellfire into personifications of singular traits they had while human.</p><p>They all seemed so happy, so liberated from their mortal trappings and dualities.</p><p>He still just felt like the same human man in a furry suit though, and the invasive thoughts he had in life chained him down here as well.</p><p>Maybe that was the crux of being a stage magician. He was the one person who wasn’t allowed to lean back and enjoy the ‘magic’ of the world. He was the man behind the curtain, the keeper of the secrets. The one who had to sniff out the ‘trick’ and the ‘truth’ to each illusion until it was broken down into a series of comprehensive slight-of hands, cons and mathematical certainties.</p><p>Even if he had ‘let go’ at the beginning and ran around care-free and liberated like everyone else, pretending to <em>be</em> someone else, and threw himself into every terf-war and battle of status with some batman-esque name like the ‘the magician’ or the ‘card demon’, he’d still just feel like an obnoxious child loudly playing pretend. (He’d also die of embarrassment)</p><p>Was that how he had looked earlier?</p><p>Pathetic?</p><p>He hadn’t been performing in front of strangers like back in Vegas, it was all people who had known him, surely he hadn’t fooled anyone.</p><p>Were they all secretly laughing at him then? It really was silly how an old decrepit man like himself got so excited and over-inflated by doing something as childish as performing fake magic. In a world with <em>real</em> magic no-less.</p><p>Plus who could forget what had happened right before when he was a stammering mess on stage doing everything in his power not to accidentally profess his foolish and doomed love for a demon a billion ranks higher than himself.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Alastor.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>What had he done?</p><p>He could still remember the feeling of when he had leaned his forehead in and nuzzled the boss’ face. The same boss who once vivisected someone for accidentally wandering into his five-foot bubble of space without permission.</p><p>There had been that moment too when he had inadvertently touched Alastor’s thigh over the other man’s hand.</p><p>With his long spindly claws, his paws were much larger and had shamelessly grazed the vintage cotton of his trouser leg. It was a miracle <em>any</em> of his arm had remained attached to his body after that.</p><p>Still, just because he had gotten away with it didn’t mean he didn’t feel like total scum. It took decades to grow Alastor’s trust and he took advantage of it to push the man well past his place of comfort.</p><p>He should have just come up with one nice thing to say about him like Charlie had asked and left it at that without all that ostentatious showmanship. He could have even sought him out after and given him that IOU ticket and been done with the whole birthday-nonsense without having embarrassed himself like that.</p><p>He had that ticket pre-prepared after all. He hadn’t worked for Alastor for this long without having learned when his birthday was, and he had been hopelessly in love with him for damn well long enough that he never would be able to forget this date, even on one of the days where he was too drunk to remember his own name (His earth-given one OR that bullshit Hell one he had made-up on the spot all those years ago).</p><p>He had laboured for weeks about what to do about the birthday (or if he should even do anything at all). This was the first year he really had to think about it given this was the first year he was absolutely guaranteed to run into Alastor since they were both at the hotel.</p><p>The card had felt like a good compromise. It was enough to show he had remembered but half-assed enough to not give the wrong idea that he cared or put any degree of effort in (or technically, he supposed it would have been the <em>right</em> idea in that case).</p><p>Plus, it would mean a special visit from Alastor to the bar, which Husk had selfishly been looking forward to.</p><p>When he reached his hotel room door, he paused before entering.</p><p>He didn’t want to go in.</p><p>Leaving a public area into a domain that was privately his own sounded appealing in theory, but he was only going to self-destruct even more once he was truly alone.</p><p>Maybe he could visit Niffty instead?</p><p>He dismissed the thought before he was even finished thinking it.</p><p>
  <em>Childish.</em>
</p><p>Instead of going in though, he sunk down at his door and sat out on the carpet of the hallway with a loud sigh.</p><p>He really must have ruined Al’s birthday…</p><p>He did the one thing the Radio demon hated above all else: he flirted with him.</p><p>He had let slip all of his cards there, hadn’t he?</p><p>Alastor was rather oblivious but surely everyone else must have caught on from his display how pathetically he yearned for the man.</p><p>He scrambled at the sounds of voices down the hall, a pair of demons about to turn the corner and catch him in his pathetic state. He’d rather die.</p><p>He clawed clumsily at the door handle and cursed when he remembered it was locked.</p><p>He pulled out his key, fumbling it between his paws with none of the dexterity shown earlier and managed to get the door open. He tumbled inside a second before his enviable discovery.  </p><p>He closed the door behind him with an awkward slowness, trying to be discreet and very much failing with how the hinges of the old door screamed and creaked the whole way.</p><p>Still, he hadn’t been seen so at least <em>that</em> was a win.</p><p>He turned back towards his darkened room and paused.</p><p>There was something on the bed.</p><p>A key?</p><p>Underneath it was a familiar note.</p><p><em>‘I owe you one drink’, </em>written in his own loopy handwriting.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This was supposed to be an angsty chap inspired by the song "I'm a fool to want you" but then I wrote it and because Husk is an angsty self-depreciator it transformed from the concept of 'I'm a fool for loving you' into 'I'm a fool for loving me' XD Poor guy.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Husk nervously fidgeted in the elevator as he went the single floor up to Alastor’s room.</p><p>Or at least what he was assuming was Alastor’s room. He had never been in it before or even quite knew where it was so the most he could do was seek out the door with the number correlating to the key and see where he ended up.</p><p>Easier said than done.</p><p>The ‘Happy’ Hotel had a floor plan capable of driving even the most mentally sound person to absolute madness. He honestly still had problems finding <em>his own</em> room most nights, he swore the place liked to change up every day just to spite him. It sounded paranoid sure, but it <em>was</em> a building made by <em>the devil himself </em>to be fair.</p><p>His nerves weren’t helping his sense of direction any. He was honestly a little frazzled and, frankly, exhausted. Tonight had been a roller coaster of emotions and it seemed his heart wasn’t done with him yet.</p><p>It was such an overtly romantic gesture Alastor had made… even if that wasn’t what he had intended, Husk couldn’t help but feel a little flustered after that.</p><p>His blood was racing so fast he felt lightheaded. His fur was lifting from every follicle and it made his skin tingle.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>What was he even doing getting so excited for? This was <em>Alastor</em> they were talking about. Best case scenario, he wanted Husk to come make him a drink as promised; Services pledged and delivered. Worst case scenario, he was about to get murdered for his earlier insolence.</p><p>Either way, <em>Satan</em>. He had KNOWN that Alastor hadn’t understood his explanation of the secret room-key code.</p><p>He should have just outright said, “It means they want to f@#$.”</p><p>Still he had been pretty explicitly clear that it was at least an indication of ‘fancy’, hadn’t he?</p><p>Maybe that was why some stupid part of him couldn’t help but feel a little giddy.</p><p>He almost walked right past the room when he finally stumbled upon it. He doubled back and stared at it skeptically. It looked like any other door in the long hallway, which in theory made sense but seemed far too discrete for the Radio Demon himself.</p><p>He was used to Alastor’s house outside the hotel which was the most over-the-top, ostentatious mansion painted in his favourite reds. A deer motif covered everything as far out as to the wrought iron fences that bordered the property- leaving no mystery to whom the house belonged.</p><p>Husk confirmed the match again comparing the number on the key to the door and rose a feathered eyebrow.</p><p>He slowly inserted it into the lock and paused. Hesitant.</p><p>Nah, it’s not like he was saving himself from anything by not turning that doorknob, whatever Alastor had in store for him, his fate was sealed. The Schrodinger’s cat theory did not apply to the perspective of the actual cat himself.</p><p>He entered and-</p><p>“Jesus Christ!” He exclaimed.</p><p>It wasn’t some magic portal to one of Alastor’s many secret meat lockers so that was a good sign. The room was clearly still in the hotel as well, given it had that unmistakable gaudy magenta wallpaper and Victorian-styled room embellishments but,</p><p>
  <em>was that a marsh? </em>
</p><p>He stood in the door frame just taking the sight in. A sort of bayou weaved its way through the warped and elongated room in a disjointed and nonsensical way, similar to how bizarrely the downstairs bar fit into the rest of the lobby- like someone took pieces from different puzzles and forced the fit, gluing the poorly joining parts with glowy-green voodoo goo.</p><p>Yeah, this was Alastor’s room alright. The entire hotel was an illogical merger of different buildings and objects welded together at oblique angles but only <em>Alastor </em>could achieve this level of Willy Wonka indoor-garden absurdity.</p><p>As he entered the room, the door magically closed behind him.</p><p>A soft brassy song echoed through the darkened chamber.</p><p>“Ah Husker, I was beginning to think my invitation was rebuffed.”</p><p>Husk froze.</p><p>There was no static. Not the slightest hint of Radio interference or distortion to his voice.</p><p>This was off-air Alastor talking.</p><p>He turned to the source and found Alastor sitting calmly in an old high-backed reading chair. A book was neatly closed on his lap and he spared Husk only the shortest of glances before closing his eyes again, leaning back and losing himself in the music of the record player beside him.</p><p>The song was surprisingly subdued, much softer and more sentimental than the jazz and swing he usually preferred.</p><p>Husk made his approach with the acute silence his feline attributes allowed him. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to tread so lightly but the whole image was just so bizarre. He had never seen Alastor with his guard down so low. He felt like if he made even the smallest of sounds he’d frighten the deer-man back into his usual Cheshire façade.  </p><p>He <em>was</em> still smiling but it was faint. His lips were nearly resting at neutral even, with just the slightest upwards perks at the corners of his mouth.</p><p>Husk had to cross over a small little footbridge to get over the marshy moat that separated him from Alastor’s sitting area.</p><p>There was no such bridge to the large four-poster bed on the other side of the room and the message was clear: That area was off-limits. Surprisingly, that helped Husk relax a little. The world hadn’t gone completely topsy-tervy after all.</p><p>As he got closer, he realized Alastor was gently humming along to the music’s tune. He didn’t bother to stop when he snapped his fingers to summon a second chair for Husk.</p><p>Husk sat down quietly.</p><p>The two seats were angled slightly towards each other but more so looked out at the strange matrix of wetland and bedroom that extended well past what should have been possible for the room’s original dimensions.</p><p>Between the pair was a small coffee table with a few crystal decanters of various whiskeys and bourbons.</p><p>“You know,” Husk said, “I had <em>meant</em> that <em>I</em> would fix <em>you</em> a drink… at the bar sometime.”</p><p>“Hmm?” Alastor said apathetically, “well, the offer was far too vague then. Plus anyhow, you fix me drinks all of the time.”</p><p>Husk glared. No he friggin’ didn’t. He made <em>himself</em> drinks and Alastor just had the supernatural knack of magically appearing to guzzle them down the second Husk’s back was turned.</p><p>Over time it almost became a game between them, Husk began trying to make the most revolting mixtures he could possibly concoct and disguised them with pretty glasses and paper umbrellas only to turn around and DARE the man to try them.</p><p>Yet Alastor would still appear every time and chug the disgusting things in one go, face not betraying a <em>hint</em> of nausea. He was beginning to think the guy didn’t have taste buds.</p><p>“I meant something <em>good</em>,” Husk said, “and actually made for you.”</p><p>Hmm?” Alastor hummed. “Am I supposed to believe that wormwood vodka you made the other day was meant for yourself?”</p><p>He rose a fair argument. At some point along his wayward way, Husk really had started intentionally fixing Alastor drinks every day. He’d been playing himself.</p><p>“Well I have you here now and what’s done is done,” Alastor said. “I find this arrangement here far more preferable anyway. This has been quite the birthday Charlotte has put on and as I retired to my room, I thought there’d be no finer way to end it all than sharing a drink with one of my oldest friends.”</p><p>Husk smiled a bit despite himself. He just shook his head and poured himself some whiskey. “Is that so?”</p><p>Alastor simply grinned- but a human sized grin- and looked back out to the lazy bayou, flowing from nowhere, to nowhere.</p><p>Husk began to sweat profusely as a large alligator floated by.</p><p>“You really did surprise me today,” Alastor said suddenly.</p><p>“Ah, yeah. I might have gotten a little carried away,” Husk admitted, watching as the alligator reached the end or the loopy water’s path and disappeared back to where it must have come from.</p><p>Alastor just looked at him for a moment with a puzzled expression. “I’m afraid I’ve never quite learned to understand you.”</p><p>Husk’s heart sunk and that overwhelming feeling of gloom returned.</p><p>“I’ve never met anyone so hell-bent on punishing themselves for any shred of harmless enjoyment that they find.” Alastor took a sip of his own drink. “When we first met, I found boundless entertainment in watching what I thought was some pathetic poor sod trapped in his own strange self-imposed loop of mental anguish and torture.”</p><p>Husk sighed.</p><p>Yeah. He had gotten excited over nothing.</p><p>He placed the drink down unfinished and moved to get up.</p><p>He didn't want to be here anymore.</p><p>A hand fell over his and stopped him.</p><p>Husk simply stared down at the gloved hand covering his own, heart still sinking deep into the pit of his stomach. He wanted to leave. Now.</p><p>“Come now Husker, don’t be cross with me, I haven’t finished what I was saying now have I?” Alastor asked.</p><p>Husk sat back down wearily. Alastor did not let go of his hand.</p><p>“That <em>was</em> how I felt at first,” Alastor said. “Now however, I feel myself wishing so desperately that you would be a little kinder to yourself.”</p><p>Husk’s expression must have twisted into something utterly incredulous because Alastor chuckled in response. “Yes, quite strange isn’t it? Not like me at all.”</p><p>His thumb brushed over the back of his paw and Husk glanced away still bogged down in his own morose gloom, such that Alastor's words were no longer penetrating.</p><p>“As I said, I don’t understand many of your thoughts and feelings,” Alastor said, “but I like to think that I know you nonetheless, and I knew you would be off sulking somewhere as you always do whenever you’ve found any modicum of joy and I found that thought… troubling.”</p><p> “I-“ Husk said and faltered. It was all so unexpected he truly didn’t know what to even say in response. So he was summoned here tonight… for his own sake? The idea was outlandish. Tounge-tied, he slowly twisted his paw until it was facing upwards and he laced his claws between Alastor’s fingers and simply waited for Alastor to pull away. He didn’t.</p><p>They went back to silence, the music continued to reverberate.</p><p>Lyrics began to trickle in, and Husk squinted in surprise.</p><p>“It’s a love song.”</p><p>“Yes, I suppose it is,” Alastor agreed. “I don’t understand your astonishment.”</p><p>“I just… didn’t think you liked that stuff,” Husk admitted. There was nothing in the lyrics he figured would resonate with Alastor.</p><p>“You think I can’t love?” Alastor asked.</p><p>Husk tensed. “I- I couldn’t tell,” he admitted. “You always gave me the impression… you weren’t interested in things like that.”</p><p>Alastor simply hummed again noncommittally.</p><p>Husk figured the topic was dropped but after Alastor twirled his drink once and crossed one long slender leg over the other, he shrugged still clearly caught on that previous thought. “Well, I suppose there are some facets to romance that I find entirely unappealing. The kind of love Angel wished to share with you tonight for instance… I would find myself too utterly repulsed to ever entertain. That all… is beyond my ability to fathom and the thought of being in that position makes my very skin crawl!”</p><p>He was getting a little overworked but he reeled it back in and glanced to where their hands were still woven together. “However…” he said thoughtfully, “there are certain aspects of love I’ve always found attractive too.”</p><p>Maybe Husk would have noticed what Alastor was getting at if he wasn’t so staunchly focused on nervously looking anywhere but at him.</p><p>His keen abilities to observe and read other people were only ever obscured by his own self-doubt and loathing. Affection was something he had trouble seeing for as long as it was directed at himself.</p><p>“When my mother passed, I very much so wished to someday have something similar again. Someone to call family and who would want to walk through the highs and lows of life together, and even more rare, someone who I would feel the same sentiments towards." Alastor put down his drink to absent-mindedly trace the heart-shaped pad of Husk’s palm. “It’s an unusual thing for me to ever feel that someone else’s happiness is one of my priorities.”</p><p>“Did you find someone?” Husk asked. “In life?”</p><p>“In life?” Alastor asked and laughed almost bitterly. “No. What’s enough for me is apparently not enough for most. What I could offer… it never quite measured up to the other side’s expectations.”</p><p>The song ended and the next one on the record began.</p><p>“Oh!” Alastor exclaimed, “I do quite love this one! Husker, we should dance!”</p><p>He pulled the cat demon up before he could even respond and held him properly into his arms. Husk noticed a second later that he was configured into the ‘woman’s’ position and felt the need to protest. “Hey! I ain’t no-“</p><p>His voice died in his throat as he finally made eye contact with Alastor.</p><p>What he saw,</p><p>Was unmistakably love.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>It all clicked in place.</p><p>“Husker,” Alastor said.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“How about for you?”</p><p>Husk looked at him dumbly. “For me?”</p><p>“Would such a humble offer of 'incomplete' affections… ever be enough for you?” Alastor asked.</p><p>Husk’s eyes widened. Slowly, he rose a paw as if to cup the other man’s cheek but he stopped a moment before he made contact. Fourty years in this body and it still somehow caught him off-guard sometimes. He looked at his long talons as if seeing them for the first time.</p><p>Disgusting.</p><p>He was disgusting. So far from human, his form was monstrous and not meant for such tender sentiments as to graze the cheek of a lover.</p><p>He couldn't bear to touch the other man’s skin with such horrify-</p><p>Alastor took Husk’s paw from where it hovered and placed it onto his cheek himself with the softest of expressions and Husk was broken out of his thoughts in an instant with just how right it all somehow felt.</p><p>“It would be everything,” Husk answered truthfully.</p><p>Alastor looked satisfied. "Oh Husker, we've been such fools haven't we? All of these decades, not even noticing what we had right in front of ourselves!"</p><p>"Speak for yourself," Husk said quietly. "I've been in love with you for years."</p><p>He was a little nervous at how Alastor would react to such an admission but the man holding his heart was hardly put off.</p><p>"Well then," Alastor smiled. "I will thank you for your patience." He slowly pressed his forehead back against Husk’s own, as Husk had done earlier during the magic show and they held themselves close together.</p><p> </p><p>Husk purred and, for once, felt no embarrassment for it.</p><p> </p><p>They danced for a few more songs until the record was finished and they were left standing in the dull white noise of the vinyl’s end.</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes happiness felt like a fruitless effort for Husk. It drained through him as if his heart was poked through with holes in a way that he could never quite retain it but at least for tonight, it felt patched and, when he left here, he knew the feeling would linger.</p><p>-and when it went away in the future, he could always seek out his lover and know that Alastor would happily hold him until the world righted itself once again, however long it took.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading through!<br/>Gosh it feels so good to actually complete something XD<br/>●|￣|＿<br/>But golly was it kind of hard. I've got a lot of difficulties "speeding up" slow burns and having it all feel natural and in character lol</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this fic was very much born on the RadioHusk discord.<br/>The ever knowledgable Cassiathea once told us that Viv said in a videocast that Husk feels true joy from performing magic and then we all speculated how cool it would be if Husk had his own stage persona. This idea has been living rent-free in my head for months.</p><p>Then recently MysticMyra was posting all these soft old love songs that reminded them of radiohusk and I just got so heavy into the mood of writing some fluffies. We all need more of that this year XD </p><p>NeverKnightfire (Aka Knightfire, she's not fooling me with her ao3 name) has drawn some cute radiohusk pics over the past while and certain scenes are inspired by her art XD <a href="https://twitter.com/neverknightfire?lang=en">Knifi's Twitter</a><br/><a href="https://twitter.com/NeverKnightfire/status/1383901146670981121/photo/1"> Husk and Al dancing </a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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